Garden and Goats

While we were on a country road outside Cullman, I was absolutely stunned at the size of a wooden box by the road--4 feet x 60 feet. Yes, it was that large. We had seen it twice before while it was being constructed. There were piles of boards. It appears pallets had been torn apart. Each time we passed more boxes, smaller boxes, were finished. 

Today, there were two women beside a car, so I had Tommy turn around. As I returned and turned down the side road, one woman was leaving. So, i knew who lived there and owned the boxes. 

She is planting in her yard. She has a small greenhouse. There was a composting thing that looked like a barrel that could be turned. I was envious. 

She has never done this before. She is going to have a CSA and can enough to feed them. She is very ambitious. I believe she will succeed. 

We talked chickens, too. She has 35 day old chicks and is going to learn how to raise them. I think she is going to sell eggs, too. I gave her a few hints. I warned her about raccoons! 

She and her husband are from Lubbock, Texas, and have no children. Their you tube is Young Family Homestead. 

We also saw a field full of goats, It appeared there were as many babies as nannies. Since last week someone put a child's swing in for the goats to climb. It was a swing like the kind that comes with a child's swing set. When we went down the road the first time, all the goats were around the slide and one tiny baby goat was lying at the very top. 

I had every intention of stopping on the way back and taking a picture. But, on the way back the goats had all moved to another part of the field. Their guard donkey was visiting them. It was all cute. One baby goat was getting lunch. The baby was solid black except for a white tip to its tail and a white blaze on its face. 

Tomorrow, I will relate a very good doctor visit to you. 

Who is making a garden this year and what kind of setup do you have? Even if you are only growing tomatoes in pots, i am interested. 

$3400 later

His car is fixed, new axle, tires rotated, and something done to front brakes. Tommy has been driving with an axle that needed replacing--$3400. He berates me for telling "that noise" needs to be checked. I wonder how it would have felt for it to completely ++fail?

I got an estimate from the same place, Pep Boys, for two hvac door actuator for over $1600. This thing is the door that opens and closes when you change from ac to heat. Today, on the way to Cullman, Tommy was freezing and I was feeling heat. As it turns out, the door was stuck/broken closed. So, we had to turn his side off completely and close the vents. He was only getting frigid air.That plus the loud rat-a-tat-tat is enough to drive a person batty. As it turns out, this is a problem will al Impalas. Well, they are making no more Impalas, I hear. I did not know this car has dual controls, one for each side of the car.

Before we left home this morning, I scrambled four eggs for Tommy and me. He was a pain and refused to eat any. He eats them anywhere except when I make them. So, I ate all four eggs. Again! I have to quit that. However, the amount of protein I had kept me full and until lunch. I usually do not need to eat until around 1 pm after I eat 2 eggs.

We went to the free lunch and had turkey soup, cornbread muffins, pickle, unsweetened tea, and dessert. There were peas in the soup, so I ate none of the soup, just picked out the bit of turkey. It's good I had the eggs! I did not eat cornbread muffins or the pickle. Tommy ate my bowl of soup, only leaving some of the broth.

We got my mail, visited the bursar at the hospital. It turns out that the reason I was turned over to collections is that Medicare rejected a test I had done. I had to call Medicare for another rejected charge. I have no idea why this is happening over and over. It is stressful when I have no idea what I owe and why. I had a few other things to do. We went to the store out in the country owned by the Mennonites I got a couple of pieces of candy and looked around.

Over under a tree are two picnic tables near the Mennonite store and right near a fence. We were surprised to see a cow lying right next to the fence. We drove over near the picnic table on the way out. Over beyond the cow was a goat lying in the grass. I wondered if the cow was waiting on people with their lunches. And, was the goat and cow friends. There are many goats and cows in the field. The weather was perfect with few skies in a lovely blue sky, 62 degrees by noon.

As soon as we arrived home, the shop called and we had to go right back out to get the car. Tommy had undressed. and was not eager to go out. I did not want to get out early! I had put potatoes in the oven, so it all worked out well.

I used one dish for dinner where I cooked the beef patties last night. So, dishwashing will be easy, thankfully.

Tomorrow, I will make potato soup. Tommy has consented to peel potatoes. YAY!